USS Rafael Peralta Commissioned

Published Jul 30, 2017 3:15 AM by The Maritime Executive

The U.S. Navy commissioned its newest guided-missile destroyer, the USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115) on Saturday at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.

USS Rafael Peralta Honors Marine Corps Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for actions during combat operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Peralta is credited with saving the lives of fellow Marines during the second battle of Fallujah in 2004.

USS Rafael Peralta, the 64^th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, will be capable of engaging in air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously. The 509-foot, 9,250-ton vessel is one of the U.S. Navy’s most advanced ships. The ship, along with its 304 crew consisting of 25 officers and 280 elisted personnel, can operate with a Carrier Strike Group, Expeditionary Strike Group, as an element of a Surface Action Group or independently.

The vessel was laid down in October 2014 by Bath Iron Works. The shipyard is currently in production on future destroyers Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), Daniel Inouye (DDG 118) and Carl M. Levin (DDG 120).

Characteristics

Length Overall: 510 feet/156m

Beam: 59 feet/18m

Draft: 30.5 feet/9.3m

Displacement – full load: 9,217 tons

Power Plant: 4 General Electric LM 2500-30 gas turbines; 2 shafts; 2 Contra-Rotating propellers; 100,000 shaft horsepower/75,000kW

Speed: in excess of 30 knots

Range: 4,400NM